Located in the docking node was the Priroda 5 camera which was used for Earth resources experiments.

The control system of Kristall was developed by the JSC "Khartron"[1] (Kharkiv, Ukraine).

List of experiments: The most notable feature of Kristall was its relation to the Soviet Buran program.

The axial port was tested by the modified Soyuz TM-16 spacecraft in 1993 in preparation for Shuttle dockings.

On June 10, Kristall was moved back to -X port to prepare for the upcoming Shuttle docking.

This allowed future Shuttle dockings to be carried out without the module rearrangement that had needed previously.